Building Upon Jesus

When you talk to others about your relationship in the LORD, how much of it is about you? How proud are you of what you have done with your life in Jesus?

Paul is talking about the building-blocks of life in the LORD when he says,

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹ 

In another of Paul’s letters he writes, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” ² There is a tendency to want to move forward in God using the ways of our former life and yet Paul warns against the inferior qualities that we may try to use for the work of the LORD.

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. ³

What qualities do we bring to God that He needs other than willingness and submission to His ways? He doesn’t need anything from our old life except us humble enough to allow Him to do His work in and through us. While many of us have grand ideas of how we can ‘help’ the LORD to accomplish His work for this world, He seems to know that His way is better and in His Way He will receive the glory rather than us.
And that’s the way it should be. Amen.